AOL has announced that it will changed its email service. They plan on charging for email in order to help slow down or even stop spam. The price for this service is unknown, but non-for-profit organizations will be exempt.

I will start with my summary. This is not a good idea for several reasons. For starters it will not stop spam as a whole. It will just stop spam for AOL customers. Depending on the price, spammers will just pay it to continue. This may even give spammers credibility if they pay to spam you. For AOL this could be bad. There are hundreds of free email providers out there. I can see people switching to a free service if they have to pay for a spam free AOL email address. Creating a paid service although it will deter spammers, will not eliminate the problem. Spammers will find away around this. One possible disguise is to look like a non for profit organization. AOL is standing fast on this despite the groups of protesters fighting this.

In AOL's defense they can do what they feel is best, however my personal opinion that this is a bad move. I think this will result in a loss of customers. No one wants to pay for email. Its too much a part of everyday life now. Its ingrained in our lives. You can't blame them for trying to find a solution to the spam epidemic, and what better way than through a spammers pocketbook. However, legitimate email users are not willing to pay the price.